02641cam a22003137 4500001000700000003000500007005001700012008004100029100002500070245018300095260006600278490004200344500002000386520105800406530006101464538007201525538003601597690008301633690011001716690008201826690008101908690009601989700002202085700002602107710004202133830007702175856003802252856003702290w10753NBER20171213215656.0171213s2004 mau||||fs|||| 000 0 eng d1 aWallis, John Joseph.10aSovereign Debt and Repudiationh[electronic resource]:bThe Emerging-Market Debt Crisis in the U.S. States, 1839-1843 /cJohn Joseph Wallis, Richard E. Sylla, Arthur Grinath III. aCambridge, Mass.bNational Bureau of Economic Researchc2004.1 aNBER working paper seriesvno. w10753 aSeptember 2004.3 aIn 1841 and 1842, eight states and the Territory of Florida defaulted on their sovereign debts. Traditional histories of the default crisis have stressed the causal role of the depression that began with the Panic of 1837, unexpected revenue shortfalls from canal and bank investments as a result of the depression, and an unwillingness of states to raise tax rates. This paper shows that none of these stylized facts fits the experience of states at all well. The majority of state debts in default in 1842 were contracted after the Panic of 1837; most states did not expect canal investments to return substantial revenues by 1841 and so could not experience unexpected shortfalls in those revenues; and, finally, most states were willing to raise tax rates substantially. The relationship between land sales and land values explains much of the timing of state borrowing and the default experience of western and southern states. Pennsylvania and Maryland defaulted because they postponed the imposition of a state property tax until it was too late. aHardcopy version available to institutional subscribers. aSystem requirements: Adobe [Acrobat] Reader required for PDF files. aMode of access: World Wide Web. 7aN2 - Financial Markets and Institutions2Journal of Economic Literature class. 7aN4 - Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation2Journal of Economic Literature class. 7aH1 - Structure and Scope of Government2Journal of Economic Literature class. 7aH2 - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue2Journal of Economic Literature class. 7aH3 - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents2Journal of Economic Literature class.1 aSylla, Richard E.1 aGrinath, Arthur, III.2 aNational Bureau of Economic Research. 0aWorking Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research)vno. w10753.4 uhttp://www.nber.org/papers/w1075341uhttp://dx.doi.org/10.3386/w10753